Buying Gasoline

The Issue: Demand may be leveling off. Their View: Maybe $4 will provide the incentive.

Gas prices in Chicago are among the highest in the nation — on Friday they averaged $3.54 for a gallon of regular. That was up 54 cents in just the last month. The average price in the nation for a gallon of regular went up a little more than a quarter in the last month, to $3.13.

Yet even as prices have risen, drivers have consumed more gasoline. In the first three months of 2007, demand in Illinois rose 3 percent over the same period last year. Drivers may have been shocked when gas jumped above $3 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina disrupted supplies, but they adjusted. They weren't happy consumers, but they were robust consumers.

Now, finally, there are some signs that consumption may be starting to level off. The first week in May saw the first indications of that.

And that's the good thing about gas prices today. Talk all you want about the need for a national energy policy. Our personal energy policy has been use more of it. The key to reducing U.S. consumption of oil, to stop being held economic hostage to the writhing Middle East, is to have enough incentive to use less gas. Maybe $3.54 a gallon will finally provide the incentive. Maybe it will have to be $3.75 a gallon. Or $4.